In the wobbly first decade since Hawaii’s first charter schools were launched in 2000, there’s been a palpable hunger for innovation mixed with equal amounts of missteps. After all, nothing new is ever easy — but trying to break free of intransigent bureaucracy is downright difficult.

Now, a new evaluation of Hawaii’s charter school system has revealed alarming flaws — such as a missing focus on student results — but the encouraging aspect is that it also provides clear-headed recommendations for improvement.

The report by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) found oversight of Hawaii’s charters schools lacking in clarity, consistency and standardized goals when it came to evaluating schools.

"Define what you expect schools to produce in the end, academically, financially and in compliance, and focus on whether they’re doing it rather than how they are doing it," NACSA CEO Greg Richmond advised Hawaii’s Charter School Review Panel, which is charged with overseeing the schools.

Management of charter schools has been a chronic struggle — as evidenced in the revolving-door leadership at the state Charter School Administrative Office, which has gone through at least five executive directors since 2004. The office provides support and guidance to Hawaii’s 31 public charter schools.

Among the schools, success has been mixed. And charges of financial mismanagement and nepotism have come to light in a couple of schools, raising questions about staff quality and whether taxpayer dollars that fund these schools are being spent well. Issues also have arisen about close ties between some schools’ leadership and the local board that governs the school.

Much attention is being paid to charter schools here and on the national level — President Barack Obama and U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, for example, have incentivized charter schools as agile models for innovation and autonomy, a refreshing break from traditional public schools often tethered by bureaucracy. In Hawaii, some 5 percent of public school students attend these "schools of choice" under charters, or contracts, with the state. That’s 9,000 children statewide, a nearly 50 percent jump in the past three years.

But the very things that make charter schools so attractive — the freedom to imagine, create and innovate — make them tough to manage as a system. Hawaii’s 31 charter schools are quite diverse, ranging from small Hawaiian-focused learning to big online academies.

Among NACSA’s most controversial recommendation for union-heavy Hawaii might well be one to let charter schools decide whether their staffs will be state employees; that is sure to draw debate. But for now, the NACSA evaluation, paid for by a $7,500 grant, is being embraced by local education decision-makers, and that’s a good sign.

"They did a wonderful job," said Carl Takamura, chairman of Hawaii’s Charter School Review Panel. "I think it’s fair to say the panel is almost 100 percent in agreement with their findings."

Lynn Finnegan, executive director of the Hawaii Charter Schools Network, said the focus on clarity and quality that outcome contracts would provide should be welcome.

"Many of (the schools) say this has been the missing piece. … I don’t think they like operating in the gray."

Indeed, refining the charter schools apparatus is under way in earnest by key people, including the Charter School Review Panel and the Charter School Governance Task Force, created by this year’s Legislature to find ways to improve the schools. Starting this fall, charter schools must undergo reauthorization every six years to ensure they are on track academically and financially, and each will need to submit an independent financial audit. Also, a state auditor’s report of the system is due out soon.

The beauty of charter schools goes beyond mere test scores, embracing the concept that not all children learn the same way. Stakeholders and policymakers have much work ahead, but here’s a workable blueprint. The fact that it’s being met with nods instead of resistance bodes well for charter schools’ second decade.